Published: Friday, November 23, 2012 at 1:00 a.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, November 21, 2012 at 8:35 p.m.

SARASOTA - In the cafeteria at “Sally,” the Salvation Army on 10th Street in Sarasota, it's easy to spot members of the Street Team.

Facts

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They're the ones in bright yellow T-shirts.

In exchange for room and board, Street Team members spend their weekday mornings picking up litter on Main Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way. In the afternoons, they're free to apply for work and go to job interviews. After a 10 p.m. curfew, they sleep in dorm-room bunks.

They may not be a family, but they seem to be close.

All of them have been homeless. Many had problems with drug and alcohol abuse. Some have relatives near Sarasota.

A 27-year-old named Tanner H. — the Salvation Army protects the identify of its clients — made plans for Thanksgiving, which is a day off for the Street Team.

“Me and my bunkie, we're gonna meet up and go to my mom's in Ellenton,” Tanner H. says. “We're gonna do a crab dip, one of my grandmother's recipes, and bake a turkey and cook green beans.”

A way off the street

The Street Team, a project of the Salvation Army and City of Sarasota, strives to provide the structure and discipline to help homeless people find employment and arrange places to live.

The idea came out of Daytona Beach, where officials followed an example set in Palo Alto, Calif.

The Sarasota program started six months ago. Of the 67 people who have worked on the Street Team, supervisors say, 31 have found full-time jobs.

Right now there are two women and a dozen men in the program.

One of them is David V., a former air-conditioning repairman who became a drug addict, a bank robber and an inmate on his way to homelessness. After his latest relapse, he went back to rehab and joined the Street Team.

“The camaraderie has been amazing,” he says. “You'd think, eight guys in a room, we'd have problems, but we haven't.”

David, 56, is on his way out of the program, having landed a job making telephone solicitations for Shriners Hospitals. Now he's trying to save money, find a room to rent and get a driver's license for the first time in years.

“We're all in the same boat,” David says, looking around his dorm. “We're all trying to build a better life for ourselves.”

‘Part of the team'

Ronnie W., a 57-year-old Sarasota native, is the colorful chatterbox who leads a Street Team through Newtown each morning. This is his neighborhood. He directs traffic, cajoles workers and greets people, all without disturbing the toothpick lodged in the right corner of his mouth.

“At this point, y'all are on the team,” he tells newcomers. “We'd like y'all to become part of the team.”

They move along, each man carrying a five-gallon bucket and a pincer stick called a Grabber. They snatch up bottles, plastic and paper, emptying their buckets in garbage cans along the street.

Their assignment is to clean King Way, but they pick up any trash they see.

“We take pride in what we do,” Ronnie says. “We do all the parking lots, all the church yards, the side streets. People are grateful for the most part.”

The homeless engineer

Most Street Team members are working-class people with more time in prison than in college. The exception to that rule: Neil B., a 35-year-old structural engineer from Boston.

While gathering trash, he tells his story.

Neil was an alcoholic, but his life didn't really fall apart until after he stopped drinking. Yes, he agrees without smiling, there's real irony there.

His wife, a drug addict, still lives in Massachusetts. Their son stays with his father in Charlotte County.

Neil has applied for engineering jobs around the country. He's tried to find work at Walmart and other local stores, but hasn't been hired.

He thinks employers worry that, if hired, he wouldn't stick around long.

He was homeless in Sarasota for a month before joining the Street Team. Pretty rough. After that experience, picking up a little trash is no big deal.

“This is easy,” Neil says, making his way down the street. “You just have to have some humility about yourself.”

The word on Sarasota

Duane T., the newest member of the Street Team, says he's 34, but he looks much younger. This is unusual. He's from Detroit by way of Clearwater and St. Petersburg, where people talked about Sarasota.

“I heard it was the best Salvation Army anybody had ever seen,” he says. “I met David on the bus. He told me this was a great opportunity. I came right in here. I was amazed how smooth the process was.”

Duane is a talker, a joker, a charmer who makes people smile. He's had construction jobs, what he calls “masonary” work. Now he wants to apply at Taco Bell.

He plans to straighten out his life in Florida. Save some money and visit his mother. Return to Detroit in the spring, after the worst of winter.

“They want me to go home,” he says, “but as a man, you want to go back with your feet on the ground. You don't want to be sleeping on somebody's couch."

The guitar man

The Salvation Army dorm rooms are bare and institutional, with fluorescent lights and cinder-block walls covered in gray paint. There's one bathroom and shower for everyone. Four bunk beds and one table.

The men play cards sometimes, mostly Casino and Spades.

Valuables, if any, are kept in hallway lockers. Next to their bunks, they have a few pairs of shoes and some clothes. Maybe a Bible and a 12 Steps book, too.

Tom C. has the guitar he picked up at a Bradenton halfway house.

“That's just a beater, a beach guitar,” he says. “I play in a band, a sober band.”

<p><em>SARASOTA</em> - In the cafeteria at “Sally,” the Salvation Army on 10th Street in Sarasota, it's easy to spot members of the Street Team.</p><p>They're the ones in bright yellow T-shirts.</p><p>In exchange for room and board, Street Team members spend their weekday mornings picking up litter on Main Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way. In the afternoons, they're free to apply for work and go to job interviews. After a 10 p.m. curfew, they sleep in dorm-room bunks.</p><p>They may not be a family, but they seem to be close.</p><p>All of them have been homeless. Many had problems with drug and alcohol abuse. Some have relatives near Sarasota.</p><p>A 27-year-old named Tanner H. — the Salvation Army protects the identify of its clients — made plans for Thanksgiving, which is a day off for the Street Team.</p><p>“Me and my bunkie, we're gonna meet up and go to my mom's in Ellenton,” Tanner H. says. “We're gonna do a crab dip, one of my grandmother's recipes, and bake a turkey and cook green beans.”</p><p><B>A way off the street</b></p><p>The Street Team, a project of the Salvation Army and City of Sarasota, strives to provide the structure and discipline to help homeless people find employment and arrange places to live.</p><p>The idea came out of Daytona Beach, where officials followed an example set in Palo Alto, Calif.</p><p>The Sarasota program started six months ago. Of the 67 people who have worked on the Street Team, supervisors say, 31 have found full-time jobs.</p><p>Right now there are two women and a dozen men in the program.</p><p>One of them is David V., a former air-conditioning repairman who became a drug addict, a bank robber and an inmate on his way to homelessness. After his latest relapse, he went back to rehab and joined the Street Team.</p><p>“The camaraderie has been amazing,” he says. “You'd think, eight guys in a room, we'd have problems, but we haven't.”</p><p>David, 56, is on his way out of the program, having landed a job making telephone solicitations for Shriners Hospitals. Now he's trying to save money, find a room to rent and get a driver's license for the first time in years.</p><p>“We're all in the same boat,” David says, looking around his dorm. “We're all trying to build a better life for ourselves.”</p><p><B>'Part of the team'</b></p><p>Ronnie W., a 57-year-old Sarasota native, is the colorful chatterbox who leads a Street Team through Newtown each morning. This is his neighborhood. He directs traffic, cajoles workers and greets people, all without disturbing the toothpick lodged in the right corner of his mouth.</p><p>“At this point, y'all are on the team,” he tells newcomers. “We'd like y'all to become part of the team.”</p><p>They move along, each man carrying a five-gallon bucket and a pincer stick called a Grabber. They snatch up bottles, plastic and paper, emptying their buckets in garbage cans along the street.</p><p>Their assignment is to clean King Way, but they pick up any trash they see.</p><p>“We take pride in what we do,” Ronnie says. “We do all the parking lots, all the church yards, the side streets. People are grateful for the most part.”</p><p><B>The homeless engineer</b></p><p>Most Street Team members are working-class people with more time in prison than in college. The exception to that rule: Neil B., a 35-year-old structural engineer from Boston.</p><p>While gathering trash, he tells his story.</p><p>Neil was an alcoholic, but his life didn't really fall apart until after he stopped drinking. Yes, he agrees without smiling, there's real irony there. </p><p>His wife, a drug addict, still lives in Massachusetts. Their son stays with his father in Charlotte County.</p><p>Neil has applied for engineering jobs around the country. He's tried to find work at Walmart and other local stores, but hasn't been hired. </p><p>He thinks employers worry that, if hired, he wouldn't stick around long.</p><p>He was homeless in Sarasota for a month before joining the Street Team. Pretty rough. After that experience, picking up a little trash is no big deal.</p><p>“This is easy,” Neil says, making his way down the street. “You just have to have some humility about yourself.”</p><p><B>The word on Sarasota </b></p><p>Duane T., the newest member of the Street Team, says he's 34, but he looks much younger. This is unusual. He's from Detroit by way of Clearwater and St. Petersburg, where people talked about Sarasota.</p><p>“I heard it was the best Salvation Army anybody had ever seen,” he says. “I met David on the bus. He told me this was a great opportunity. I came right in here. I was amazed how smooth the process was.”</p><p>Duane is a talker, a joker, a charmer who makes people smile. He's had construction jobs, what he calls “masonary” work. Now he wants to apply at Taco Bell.</p><p>He plans to straighten out his life in Florida. Save some money and visit his mother. Return to Detroit in the spring, after the worst of winter.</p><p>“They want me to go home,” he says, “but as a man, you want to go back with your feet on the ground. You don't want to be sleeping on somebody's couch."</p><p><B>The guitar man</b></p><p>The Salvation Army dorm rooms are bare and institutional, with fluorescent lights and cinder-block walls covered in gray paint. There's one bathroom and shower for everyone. Four bunk beds and one table.</p><p>The men play cards sometimes, mostly Casino and Spades.</p><p>Valuables, if any, are kept in hallway lockers. Next to their bunks, they have a few pairs of shoes and some clothes. Maybe a Bible and a 12 Steps book, too.</p><p>Tom C. has the guitar he picked up at a Bradenton halfway house.</p><p>“That's just a beater, a beach guitar,” he says. “I play in a band, a sober band.”</p><p>He likes classic rock — Beatles, Tom Petty, “Breakdown” and “Running Down a Dream.”</p><p>Tom, 55, used to sell cars up north. In Florida, after stints in Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous, he did maintenance work and home remodeling.</p><p>Now he's starting over with the Street Team.</p><p>This week he's had to take a few days off from work. He thinks he might have pneumonia. Under the harsh air-conditioning of his dorm, he wears a thick flannel shirt.</p><p>Today, on Thanksgiving, there's supposed to be karaoke in the Sally cafeteria. Tom hopes to play his guitar. Music is always a comfort.</p><p>“That's probably the biggest love that I have right now,” he says. “I don't know what I'd do without it, to tell you the truth.”</p>